My client wants to be able to remotely access their computer at work from their computer at home. Their computer at work has patient information, so it must be secure. I tried setting up a remote desktop application in the past but they had trouble with it. This time, I have installed Windows 11 Pro on their computer at work, so they can use the built-in remote desktop service. But I have run into trouble with setting up a VPN for making it a secure connection.
I read somewhere that the VPN has to be able to installed on a router. Their Verizon Fios router doesn’t support installing VPNs, so we purchased a ASUS RT-AX58U router. I have it connected via ethernet to the Fios router. They already have a VPN service through Norton 360, but it supposedly can’t be installed on a router, so we purchased a subscription to ExpressVPN. I set up the VPN on the router using the “VPN Fusion” on the Asus router. I set up port 3389 on the Fios router to point to port 3389 on the Asus router, which in turn points to 3389 on their work computer. I looked up the external IP and attempted to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop on their phone, but could not connect. After chatting with ExpressVPN support, they said that remote desktop is not supported for my router.
Do I really need to purchase ExpressVPN’s Aircove router? Do I even need a VPN router? I’m at my wits’ end. Every time I look something up and follow it, there always seems to be a “well, actually you need to do this.” And even if I solve this, I still need to figure out the DDNS. I have been trying to set this up for days and there seems to be no clear answer anywhere.
I would greatly appreciate any help with this! Please and thank you!
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This might help where to look: https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1011232/
Long and short, you need to configure the VPN Server section, if your router supports it. Looking at the documentation, I think OpenVPN would be the most likely supported protocol, but it’s unclear if your router is client only, or also supports hosting as well.
Once that is configured, you’d install the appropriate client, again likely OpenVPN, on the system you will be connecting from. Once VPN is established, you’d just open RDP like normal and target the destination device based on its local IP.
You can also install OpenVPN on an internal server and simply expose the correct ports to the Internet, but that is significantly more complicated than using a canned service on your router.
You’ve gotten tangled up because there is a marketing use of the term "VPN” and a technical use and what Norton/ExpressVPN/etc sell is the marketing version.
Instead, look at Tailscale. You install a small client on each machine, and once those are running the two machines can see each other and you can use remote desktop.
ETA: for clarity, with Tailscale you don’t need to do anything on the router. It’s strictly a computer-to-computer connection.